Girl&#39;s swimming suit for competition and racing



y 8, 1965 J. L. HART 3,183,524

GIRLS SWIMMING SUIT FOR COMPETITION AND RACING Filed June 3, 1963 United States Patent 3,183,524 GIRLS SWIMMING SUIT FOR COMPETITION AND RACING John L. Hart, 2011 Washington, Iowa Falls, Iowa Filed June 3, 1963, Ser. No. 284,946 2 Claims. (Cl. 2--67) This invention relates to improved swimming suits such as are used in competitive and professional swimming. The swimming suit such as that described and claimed and illustrated herein is quite distinctive from the suits such as are sold commercially for sun bathing.

During the past half century the art of swimming for competitive speed and precision movements has become increasingly important. During this development of the art certain features have become recognized as tending to handicap swimmers, not only as regards speed but also as regards comfort, economy, gracefulness and sometimes also as regards decency and propriety.

This improvement pertains particularly to suits which are designed to cover the upper part of the body. Obviously boys and men using trunks only are not concerned about the details of the trunk portion of a suit. However, women swimmers are accustomed to be more fully clothed and as a result have encountered disadvantages, to overcome which this improvement is particularly directed. The improvement will be of importance to men swimmers if the rules require a complete suit.

In the immediate following portion of this specification, there are outlined some of the problems confronting the competitive swimmer. There are four basic strokes used in competitive swimming and each depends on the swimmer reaching far to the front with his or her arms and shoulders and then forcing the water beneath or beside the swimmer to gain momentum. The swim stroke of an average swimmer that is skilled in speed and gracefulness will force the shoulder forward approximately 3 to 5 inches or a total of 6 to 10 inches of movements, first ahead and thence back of the shoulder. The present day commercial swim suit as now manufactured for the use of women is provided with straps placed well out on the shoulder of the swimmer, and therefore these straps and the suit attached thereto must be stretched a like distance. This stretching action and the necessity for moving the suit forward is undesirable for several reasons which are: firstly, it requires energy and strength to lift any given weight any number of times, and the greater the weight the more energy is required to move the weight; secondly, stretching the suit from the shoulders naturally pulls the suit tightly up around the thighs and legs and pelvis, assuming that the suit is a one-piece product, to positions not intended nor desired; thirdly, the suit when tightly stretched by the shoulder action increases discomfort to the legs, pelvis, shoulder and shoulder blades; and frequently this binding and friction results in irritation, rash and rawness on various parts of the body; and fourthly, as a practical matter, the stretching of the material tends to wear out the suit more quickly. Accordingly, the proportionate service received from any given garment is lessened through thread fatigue and the suit becomes more of a handicap as it becomes loose fitting, bagging and sagging because this development increases the pull a swimmer must exert to propel the swimmer forwardly in the water. This causes a drag.

Women swimmers have been handicapped by two very real problems which have been diflicult to solve as is now explained:

One of these difficulties arises from the use of a loose suit which tends to make competition ridiculous. This is because, unless the suit stays snug around the arms, particularly in the regions commonly referred to as arm- 3,183,524 Patented May 18, I965 pits and above the bust and across the upper back, water will be trapped in the billowing suit and thus produce a drag and will slow down the wearer to the extent that winning is substantially impossible.

A second difficulty arises from the use of a snug suit which may be used to avoid the pitfalls due to drag. A snug suit presents other problems of discomfort referred to above, and in this relation the tighter the suit, the more magnified becomes the discomfort.

The present improvement provides for a suit which avoids the above mentioned faults. This is accomplished by placing the halter or straps close to the neck and having the upper portion of the back of the suit at about the height of the third dorsal, thoracic, vertebra and the front of the suit at about the region of the clavicle. Such a location of the straps is somewhat in the nature of a de; parture from current trends which are characterized by the location of the straps of swim suits increasingly further out from the neck and toward the arm muscles.

The above mentioned features and additional details are described and claimed in the following specification and will be understood when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 shows a view of the back of a person wearing a swim suit, the specifications of which are those described herein;

FIG. 2 is a view showing the front of the suit illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view of the back of a conventional suit illustrating the wide spread distance between the straps as contrasted to the location of the straps shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 shows the front of the suit illustrated in FIG. 3.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the suit embodying this invention is shown in FIG. 1 with the back thereof illustrated at 1. In FIG. 2, the front 2 of the same suit is shown. The edges of the armholes are indicated at 3. The suit includes a conventional waist and trunk portion for front, back and sides. The front of the suit has its uppermost central portion indicated at 4 and this point is approximately as high as the clavicle of the wearer.

At the rear of the suit, as shown in FIG. 1, the highest point at the central back portion is indicated at 5 and this point should be located at about the third dorsal, thoracic, vertebra. Thus it will be observed that the front central and the rear central highest points are exceptionally high and closely adjacent the neck of the person for whom the suit is measured.

Straps extending from the rear to the front are indicated at 6. These straps are designed so that the upper portion of the front of the suit lies on and follows the collarbone in the front and the yoke and the straps proceed from the region of the collarbone parallel to each other at the base of the neck and continue parallelly down the back and then veer sharply to be joined to the suit which lies at the top of the third dorsal vertebra. Thus the traps outline the side edges of a small opening for the neck.

The rear of the swim suit may be split centrally and vertically as indicated at 7 from the neck point 5 downwardly and this line of juncture may be provided with a mechanical slidable fastener, and such means should include a detent to prevent inadvertent opening of the slidable fastener.

It will be observed by comparing the area covered by the swim suit above described and illustrated that the shoulder straps and the armhole margins of this suit do not bind the trapezius muscles but actually serve to free the trapezius muscles and likewise free the infraspinatus, the teres major, and the deltoid muscles.

I claim:

1. A swimming suit for racing comprising a waist portion and an upper body portion adapted to cover the thorax and having a high front adapted to extend substantially to a wearers clavicle, and a back portion extending upwardly to a point close to the upper end of said front portion, whereby the upper edge of the back portion is at least as high asrthe third dorsal vertebra of a wearer, said upper body portion providing armholes at the sides and narrow straps at opposite sides of the neck opening extending parallelly between said front for location at the clavicle and said back and close to the neck of a wearer, the edges of said armholes comprising arcuate cutouts extending from said narrow straps rearwardly and downwardly and thence forwardly and upwardly and merging with the front portion of said narrow straps, the lowermost portion of said cutouts being adapted to extend a substantial distance beneath the armpits of a wearer so as to leave bare the major width of the shoulders and entire shoulder blade area and the armpit areas and area over the teres major muscles of a wearer.

2. A swimming suit for racing comprising a waist portion and an upper body portion having a high front adapted to extend substantially to a wearers clavicle, and a back portion extending upwardly to a point close to the upper end of said front portion, whereby the upper edge of the back portion is at least as high as the third dorsal vertebra of a wearer, said upper body portion providing armholes at the sides and narrow straps at opposite sides of the neck opening extending parallelly' between said front for location at the clavicle and said back. and close to the neck of a wearer and adapted to lie over the trapezius muscles at the region above the third dorsal vertebra, the edges of said armholes comprising arcuate cutouts extending from said narrow straps rearwardly and downwardly and thence forwardly and upwardly and merging with the front portion of said narrow straps, the lowermost portion of said cutouts being adapted to extend a substantial distance beneath the armpits of a wearer so as to leave bare the major width of the shoulders and entire shoulder blade area of a wearer.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED vSTATES PATENTS 959,441 5/10 Anderson 267 1,781,271 11/30 Cowdrey 2-67 1,868,741 7/32 Gassel 2-67 1,886,049 11/ 32 Rothblurn 2-67 1,962,984 6/34 Crego ,2-67

FOREIGN PATENTS: 706,36 3/31 France.

JGRDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner. 

1. A SWIMMING SUIT FOR RACING COMPRISING A WAIST PORTION AND AN UPPER BODY PORTION ADAPTED TO COVER THE THORAX AND HAVING A HIGH FRONT ADAPTED TO EXTEND SUBSTANTIALLY TO A WEARER''S CLAVICLE, AND A BACK PORTION EXTENDING UPWARDLY TO A POINT CLOSE TO THE UPPER END OF SAID FRONT PORTION, WHEREBY THE UPPER EDGE OF THE BACK PORTION IS AT LEAST AS HIGH AS THE THIRD DORSAL VERTEBRA OF A WEARER, SAID UPPER BODY PORTION PROVIDING ARMHOLES AT THE SIDES AND NARROW STRAPS AT OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE NECK OPENING EXTENDING PARALLELLY BETWEEN SAID FRONT FOR LOCATION AT THE CLAVICLE AND SAID BACK AND CLOSE TO THE NECK OF A WEARER, THE EDGES OF SAID ARMHOLES COMPRISING ARCUATE CUTOUTS EXTENDING FROM SAID NARROW STRAPS REARWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY AND THENCE FORWARDLY AND UPWARDLY AND MERGING WITH THE FRONT PORTION OF SAID NARROW STRAPS, THE LOWERMOST PORTION OF SAID CUTOUTS BEING ADAPTED TO EXTEND A SUBSTANTIAL DISTANCE BENEATH THE ARMPITS OF A WEARER SO AS TO LEAVE BARE THE MAJOR WIDTH OF THE SHOULDERS AND ENTIRE SHOULDER BLADE AREA AND THE ARMPIT AREAS AND AREA OVER THE TERES MAJOR MUSCLES OF A WEARER. 